motherhood • wifehood • workhood

Before the Rickroll and beyond

I have a pretty wide range in my music preferences, but I’ve been pretty open about my love of pop music. When I was younger, there are few artists that I would call my favourite, and Rick Astley was one of them.

Yes, I admit that I own the Whenever You Need Somebody (1987) and Hold Me In Your Arms (1988) albums, as well as the Free (1991) and Body & Soul (1993) CDs. I even saw him in concert when he came to played an outdoor music hall at our local amusement park in 1988.

In my research, I’ve discovered he made another album in 2001, titled Keep It Turned On and Potrait in 2005. I’ll have to look into those, but it’s safe to say that sometime after I finished high school he disappeared from the pop charts in Canada and from my rotation, as dance music took over.

Once in a while, I hear an Astley song playing on a department store’s Muzak, or once in a while on a way-back playback on the radio.

That changed the other day, when I was scrolling through my feed on Facebook and noticed a mommy website that I follow posted something called the Rick Roll. I stopped reading when I saw Rick Astley’s face and clicked through to the link.

What I saw not only made me smile, but I was dancing in my chair and sharing it with all my friends.

I’ve probably played this mash-up of Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up and Avicii, with lyrics also by Chumbawamba’s Tubthumping about a hundred times already!

I also learned that Rickrolling is a thing. Check out Wikipedia’s definition, which is pretty funny. Especially since it states that this meme helped to revive Astley’s career! And while I promise you this is a clear link to a Rick Astley video, it is done is a way that you’ve never heard before!